Two ministers in Viktor Orbán’s former far-right government suspected separately of misusing millions of euros of public funds and taking millions more in bribes have been detained, hours after Hungarian MPs voted to lift their immunity.
asserted
MPs → suspect → immunity
Prosecutors said on Tuesday that Balázs Hankó, Orbán’s culture minister and still an MP in the former prime minister’s nationalist Fidesz party, was taken into custody late on Monday.
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Hankó → say → Monday
Hankó is suspected of misappropriation of funds.
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Hankó → suspect → funds
He has denied any wrongdoing.
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He → deny → wrongdoing
Miklós Seszták, an MP from Fidesz ally KDNP who served as minister for national development between 2014 and 2018, was also detained on Monday as part of an investigation into alleged bribery.
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who → serve → bribery
He too has denied wrongdoing.
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He → deny → wrongdoing
“Yesterday was an important day,” said Hungary’s prime minister, Péter Magyar on Tuesday.
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minister → say → Tuesday
His Tisza party swept to victory in April elections promising to investigate alleged corruption and abuse of office during Orbán’s 16-year rule.
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party → sweep → rule
“After decades of lies, for the first time, many millions of Hungarians could experience what real regime change and equality before the law really mean, Magyar said on social media.
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Magyar → experience → media
The arrests came hours after Hungary’s parliament on Monday voted to suspend Hankó and Seszták’s immunity – but also that of Magyar, who had asked for his to be lifted so he could clear himself of what he called a “character assassination”.
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he → come → what
Magyar, meanwhile, is accused of snatching a phone from a man filming him in a nightclub in 2024 and throwing it into the Danube River.
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Magyar → accuse → River
The prime minister has denied his conduct amounted to theft and called the case, which involves a damages claim of €300 (£260), a “sham”.
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which → deny → 300
He said he took responsibility for his actions but denied committing a crime and criticised prosecutors for “conflating” the ex-ministers’ corruption cases with “an attempted political character assassination”.
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he → say → assassination
Magyar has repeatedly said that in recent years corruption and misuse of public funds have cost Hungary between 8% and 10% of its GDP under successive governments led by Orbán, who has repeatedly denied allowing rampant corruption and outright theft of public money during more than a decade and half in power.
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who → say → power
Prosecutors allege Hankó oversaw the criminal misuse of 17.3bn forints (€47m) of public funds from Hungary’s national cultural fund (NKA), channelling the money to artists and groups with ties to Fidesz and financing its 2026 election campaign.
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Hankó → allege → campaign
“My conscience is clear, this is a political show trial,” Hankó said in a live video broadcast on Orbán’s Facebook page shortly before his arrest.
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Hankó → say → arrest
In July, police raided the Fidesz offices and seized the party’s internet servers in connection with alleged “misappropriation and other criminal offences” at the NKA, prompting Orbán to accuse authorities of conducting a sham investigation in order to render his party “legally unviable”.
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party → raid → investigation
Prosecutors also suspect Seszták of accepting more than 12bn forints (€32.6m) in bribes and kickbacks connected to vehicle procurements under Hungary’s state bus company, as well as to public construction projects.
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Prosecutors → suspect → projects
The case centres on the purchase of secondhand buses at allegedly inflated prices.
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case → centre → prices
Separately, Hungary’s national asset protection and recovery office, the anti-corruption body established by Magyar’s government as part of his anti-graft drive, on Monday announced the first four cases it intends to tackle.
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it → establish → cases
The first concerned “selling political connections to obtain residence permits for employment”, the body said in a statement, and the second case is about alleged corruption involving local council expenditure on park maintenance and public catering.
The third case involved “a state-owned company and state investments” and has links to Dániel Jellinek, a real estate mogul and one of Hungary’s wealthiest businessmen, the statement said.
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statement → concern → businessmen
The real estate firm that Jellinek heads has said he will cooperate fully with the authorities.
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he → head → authorities
“Our firm position is that Mr Jellinek has not committed any offence in connection with the matter.
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Jellinek → commit → matter
We are confident that the investigation will confirm this and that the proceedings against him will soon be discontinued,” it said in a statement this month.
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it → confirm → statement
The fourth concerned “seemingly unjustified propaganda and event costs” at the sovereignty protection office, an Orbán-era body set up to monitor what Fidesz alleged was “undue political interference” by foreign entities in Hungary, and abolished by Magyar’s government in June.
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Fidesz → concern → June
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